The Basement: Dave Paulides | Missing 411 and Cases the Government Won't Let You See

June 29, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

The Basement: Dave Paulides | Missing 411 and Cases the Government Won't Let You See

When former San Jose police officer Dave Paulides filed a Freedom of Information Act request for a simple list—every person who had gone missing in America's national parks—the National Park Service told him it would cost $1.4 million to compile. A special agent later called Paulides off the record and explained that the actual work would take about two hours per regional office. Paulides had spent nearly twenty years in law enforcement before two off-duty rangers approached him at Yosemite and told him people were vanishing in the parks, and nobody would talk about it. That conversation launched what became the Missing 411 phenomenon.

The Paperwork War

Paulides's central claim is straightforward: the National Park Service systematically refuses to release information about missing persons. When he first requested a list of missing people across the entire park system, the agency responded six months later saying no such list existed. When he pushed further, they quoted the $1.4 million figure—or $34,000 for Yosemite alone. Paulides is a published author, which normally grants a FOIA fee exemption, but the Park Service refused to recognize his books as qualifying.

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What you'll learn

1 (00:00) **Introduction and the Park Service's Stonewall** - Dave Paulides explains how the National Park Service refuses to release lists of missing people, and the bureaucratic runaround he faced.
2 (09:27) **Yosemite: The Park That Swallows People** - Paulides details his deep dive into Yosemite, the park with the highest number of missing persons, and the "launched" death report.
3 (12:10) **Mount Rainier: A Nexus of Weird** - The film *Missing 411: Washington State* focuses on Mount Rainier, linking a missing Marine transport plane to the start of the modern UFO era.
4 (21:37) **The Jacob Gray Case: A Father's Fight** - Paulides examines the disappearance of Jacob Gray, highlighting the Park Service's inconsistent response and a father's desperate search.
5 (28:43) **The Kindness Award and Emotional Toll** - Paulides gives a "kindness award" to a bike shop owner who helped Jacob, and reflects on the emotional weight of investigating these cases.
6 (32:38) **The Gilbert Gilman Case: Intelligence Cover-Up?** - Paulides explores the case of Gilbert Gilman, an Army Intelligence veteran who vanished from Olympic National Park, suggesting a government extraction.
7 (44:19) **Granite, Orbs, and the Quantum Connection** - The conversation shifts to the properties of granite, its prevalence in Yosemite, and its link to orbs, portals, and strange phenomena.

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Show Notes

-Head to https://Superpower.com and use code BASEMENT at checkout for $20 off your membership. Unlock your new health intelligence. 100+ biomarkers. Every year. Detect early signs of 1,000+ conditions. #superpowerpod -Go to https://nicnac.com/whyfiles and use code WHYFILES for 20% off, or use the store locator to find Nic Nacs near you. -Discover how to move your IRA or 401k into physical gold and silver — with no taxes or penalties. Get your free portfolio review and free gold & silver guide from GoldenCrest Metals: visit https://GoldenCrestMetals.com/thewhyfiles or call (888) 949-9172 now. David Paulides spent his career as a detective. Then two park rangers knocked on his door and told him something that didn't add up: people are vanishing in our national parks, and nobody's talking about it. Search dogs that won't track. Hunters who walk back with stories that shouldn't be possible. A bullet that hit nothing. AJ sits down with the man behind Missing 411 to ask the question the Park Service won't answer — where did they go? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices